Canada: Trudeau Government Cools on Asylum Seekers as Numbers From US Rise

The Canadian government has sharpened its tone towards asylum seekers, warning that simply making it across the border is not a “free ticket” to Canada as the number of migrants crossing from the US continues to rise.

Since the election of Donald Trump, growing numbers of asylum seekers have been entering Canada by foot, driven by fears over the US president’s approach to immigration.

Last year more than 20,000 people entered Canada at remote, unguarded locations along the border, sometimes braving freezing temperatures, fields of waist-deep snow and icy ditches. Doing so allows migrants to skirt a longstanding pact that bars most refugee claimants in the US from applying for asylum in Canada.

The flow of people shows little sign of abating, with 7,300 people entering Canada irregularly this year – more than double the number of those who made the journey in the first four months of 2017.